This invention relates to a new and distinctive cultivar of exacum plant known botanically as exacum affine and known by the cultivar name Best Rose.
This new cultivar was discovered by me as a result of radiation treatment carried out on meristematic tissues of my exacum cultivar Best Blue, and continued successive selection to obtain a new color, grown as a pot plant.
Asexual reproduction by stem cuttings has reproduced the unique features by the new cultivar through successive propagations. Sexual propagation by seed is possible as the flowers are fertile. Seedlings are true to type meaning that seedlings give exactly the same uniform product as cuttings.
The following characteristics distinguish the new exacum from both its parents and other exacum affines commercially known and used in the floriculture industry:
(1) Flowers are single.
(2) Growth rate is equal to other single flowered cultivars.
(3) Growth as potted plant is compact.
(4) The color of the petals of the flower is rose-purple, a color not seen in exacum before.
(5) The flowers have stamens and style and produce seed.
(6) The cultivar reproduces easily with cuttings and also by seed.
(7) The color and appearance of the wilted flower do not disfigure the plant in the same manner as known in blue cultivars.